1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection device of an integrated circuit (IC) and, more particularly, to an IC device with ESD protection functionality provided by an ESD protection device.
2. Description of the Related Art
With reference to FIG. 17, a conventional integrated circuit (IC) has a power mesh 81 and a core 82. The power mesh includes multiple first electrodes 811 and a grounding electrode 812. The first electrodes 811 are arranged to take the form of a ring, and each first electrode 811 is mounted inside an installation area 813. The core 82 is located inside the grounding electrode 812, and is electrically connected to the first electrodes 811 and the grounding electrode 812. The first electrodes 811 and the grounding electrode 812 are connected to a power source to receive an operating voltage for the core 82 to operate.
Rapid development of semiconductor fabrication processes speeds up miniaturization of IC. For small-scale ICs, ESD protection has become an increasingly important function. To protect IC against the attack of ESD, conventional ICs require an additional ESD protection circuit to promptly guide static electricity to the grounding electrode 812 without reaching and damaging the core 82 when static electricity occurs on the first electrode 811. However, the conventional ESD protection circuit usually occupies a space of the IC and adds difficulty to miniaturization of the IC.